Ex-'Survivor' producer appeals conviction for wife's murder

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U.S. producer Bruce Beresford-Redman is seen during the fourth court hearing at a jail in Cancun June 11, 2012. REUTERS/Victor Ruiz Garcia

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - Bruce Beresford-Redman, former producer of the television series “Survivor,” has appealed a decision by a Mexican judge who sentenced him to 12 years in prison for murdering his wife in Cancun, his lawyer said on Friday.

A judge convicted Beresford-Redman of murdering 41-year-old restaurant owner Monica Burgos while the couple vacationed with their two children at a Cancun resort in April 2010, the attorney general’s office of Mexico’s Quintana Roo state said late on Thursday.

Burgos’ body was found in a sewer pipe near the resort, and prosecutors said she appeared to have been strangled.

Hotel staff said the couple had a heated argument during their stay.

“There is no evidence against Bruce,” Beresford-Redman’s lawyer, Jaime Cancino, said on Friday, adding that he would take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary.

U.S. marshals arrested the producer in Los Angeles in November 2010 and extradited him to Mexico last month.

During a July 2011 extradition hearing, prosecutors said Beresford-Redman killed Burgos for insurance money and custody of the children.